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I cannot pretend to live a perfectly balanced life, but when one occasionally discovers perfect balance, there is something seriously beautiful about it.
I was staying for a few days’ holiday with some good friends in their delightful Sporting Lodge on the southern most tip of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. They have a wonderful Scottish cook, and he has a fine cellar. One of the joys of this Estate is that it has been meticulously restored over the last twenty years, fruit garden, vegetable garden, green houses, and herberies, and the Estate also rears and butchers its own cattle and pigs, to add to a plentiful supply of venison, and salmon, trout, crabs and lobster caught around the shores and in the rivers. Basically, the produce from the Estate make it virtually self-sufficient and it is also the most fresh and flavoursome one could ever find.
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So, one evening it was, I suppose not unsurprising that we had one of the greatest dinners I have ever had. Not only because the food was so delicious, but because the composition of dinner was perfectly balanced.
A small helping of crab, just the white meat with a little squeeze of lemon and a spoonful of home-made mayonnaise. Pink saddle of venison, with a few vegetables straight from the garden. Then some home-made ice cream with a little stewed fruit. Corton Charlemagne 1999, Labouré Roi with the crab, Hermitage La Chapelle 1985 with the deer, and a glass of Pink Roederer Crystal with the ice cream.
I got up from dinner feeling totally comfortable; it was the most perfectly balanced meal. On so many occasions, even in the best restaurants, menus leave one feeling totally bloated. More a question of the chef showing off rather than a balanced gastronomic experience.
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